HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
COMMITTEE ON THE TERRITORIES 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA 


STATEMENT OF 

HON. HENRY M. HOYT, 2d 


APRIL 11, 1910 


* 

Sixty-First Congress, Second Session 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1910 










GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 



V 


V 




Committee on the Territories, 

Monday , April 11, 1910. 

The committee was called to order at 10.40 a. m., Hon. Edward 
L. Hamilton (chairman) presiding. 

The Chairman. Gentlemen of the committee, Air. Henry M. Hoyt, 
now attorney-general for Porto Rico, and formerly, as I understand, 
a district attorney in Alaska, is here this morning. I asked Air. 
Hoyt to appear and be heard in the consideration of the two Alaskan 
government bills. Are you ready to proceed, Air. Hoyt ? 

Air. Hoyt. Yes, sir. 

STATEMENT OF HON. HENRY M. HOYT, 2d, OF WASHINGTON, 

D. C. 

Air. Hoyt. I might say to the reporter, Air. Chairman, that perhaps 
I had better be designated as Henry M. Hoyt, 2d, as there is another 
Henry Al. Hoyt in Washington whom I am liable to be mixed up with. 

I usually write my name ‘‘Henry Al. IToyt, 2d.” 

Air. Chairman, would you rather ask me questions about this 
legislation, or would you rather have me say first what has occurred 
to me in regard to it ? 

The Chairman. We would be very glad to have you proceed, Air. 
Hoyt, as you have examined this bill, have been in Alaska, and have 
had some experience with the territorial government in Porto Rico. 

Air. Hoyt. I would say first, Air. Chairman, that I have not made 
a careful examination of the original bill, but I have somewhat 
closely examined the bill H. R. 19860, and I would simply say that, ^ 
as to the necessity for legislation of this kind for Alaska, I think it is 
very necessary, because Alaska is a very remote place, her communi¬ 
cation with the United States is very imperfect all the time, and part 
of the time almost impossible excepting through very expensive 
cable messages. 

Air. W ickersham. Affiu have reference to Nome, have vou not, Air. 
Hoyt? 

Air. Hoyt. Yes; but then I think any part of Alaska is sufficiently 
remote to make communication with it annoying and subject to long 
delays—any part of it. But my experience, of course, in Alaska has 
been mostly at Nome, where I spent three years, with the exception 
of the last winter. The last winter I spent on the outside. But I 
could observe, before I left there, that there was the beginning of the 
exhaustion of the placers, and a consequent reduction of population 
in and about Nome. I was there from July, 1904, until Alay, 1907. 

3 



4 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


Now, in the nature of the case, with the sparse population that there 
is in Alaska, scattered in small groups all over that enormous country, 
I think it is pretty hard to expect that the people of Alaska would 
ever be in close agreement upon matters relating to legislation. That 
accounts, to my mind, for the statement which I have so often heard 
in Washington: “If you Alaska people would only get together, then 
we could do something for you.” That is, in my opinion, too much 
to ask of any country, even with a solid population, “to get together,” 
because nobody ever did get together in the sense of being unanimous 
and harmonious, and all agree upon the same programme. And so I 
say that I think it unreasonable to expect the Alaskan people to get 
together and agree, upon what they want Congress to do. In the na¬ 
ture of the case, of course, Congress can not know, without having 
reports and first-hand information from all over Alaska, what the con¬ 
ditions in Alaska are; so I think it is very necessary that there should 
be an Alaska legislature of some kind. 

The whole population is variously estimated—that is, the white 
population—from 20,000 to 40,000 inhabitants. Estimates are made 
by different people. I do not know what the population is, but I 
should guess that it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 25,000. 

The Chairman. Do you mean permanent white population ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Y es; but I think that is overestimated. If you mean 
by “ permanent population people who live there the year round, I 
think there are not 25,000 white people living the year round in 
Alaska 

Mr. Wickersiiam. When were you there, Mr. Hoyt ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I have not been there since November, 1906, if I 
recollect right. I left there the early days of November, 1906. 

The Chairman. What were the manifestations, to which you 
referred, that led to the feeling that the placer-mining possibilities 
of the Seward Peninsula were beginning to be exhausted ? When 
were you there ? 

Mr. Hoyt. They were beginning to decrease. At least, that is 
what everybody considered at that time; that the winter population 
of Nome was smaller in the last two years that I was there than it 
had been prior. 

The Chairman. It is said that the placer mining there is in a 
state of transition from the original method of extracting the gold 
by pick and shovel to the machinery method. Had the machine 
method been introduced when you were there ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Very largely, yes; but not the dredge. That was just 
beginning. To the extent that I understand placer mining,, it 
amounts to this: That the richest placers are mined at first by work 
in the creek beds; then in the deep placers, requiring the shaft and 
hoisting machinery, thawing the ground, and all that sort of thing; 
and then last, in the ordinary development and exhaustion of 
the placer fields, comes the dredging operation, which can be carried 
on by improved methods, so as to move and treat enormous masses 
of earth and get the gold out of it at a very small cost per cubic 
yard. And that is what is going on. They are beginning with that; 
and when that is done that will mean the exhaustion of the placer 
fields. 

The Chairman. Is it your idea that with the employment of these 
methods the population has increased or diminished ? ' 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


5 


Mr. Hoyt. Decreased, of course. You can see the effect of it bet¬ 
ter at a place where that process has gone further, and that would be 
at Dawson, where all through that country the only mining operation 
left, as I was informed when I went through there, was the dredging 
process, and the country was being- 

The Chairman. What would attract and hold a population in a 
territory like the Seward Peninsula ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Well, that part of Alaska would seem to me to have 
nothing after the gold is gone. 

The Chairman. Then it would depend entirely upon the mining? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes. I did not see any possibilities of agriculture, and 
there is no forest, excepting considerably inland. 

Mr. Lloyd. Have you been across the Bering Strait at that point 
into Russia—Siberia"? 

Mr. Hoyt. No. 

Mr. Lloyd. Do you know what there is over there in the wav of 
population, and what the people do who are now there ? 

Mr. Hoyt. No; I have never understood that there were very 
many white people there, excepting a few Cossack guards. I know 
there are people who raise the reindeer over there, and I understand 
that there have been the beginnings of placer mining in Siberia—in 
that part of it—but I never heard of any considerable white popu¬ 
lation being over there. 

Mr. Lloyd. Do you know anything about the history of that coun¬ 
try; whether there ever has been placer mining there? 

Mr. Hoyt. No, sir. 

Mr. Lloyd. I take it that there is practically about the same thing 
on one side of the strait as on the other. 

Mr. Hoyt. As to the Seward Peninsula, I have never heard of any 
forest growth sufficiently valuable and accessible to indicate that it 
would become a commercial feature in the future. And as the climate 
and the nature of the country is such that it would not probably 
permit agriculture it does not look to me as if there is any future for 
the Seward Peninsula, excepting upon one contingency, and that is the 
discovery of valuable lodes, quartz claims. 

The Chairman. Have there been some lode discoveries there ? 

Mr. Hoyt. There is a quartz mine near Nome, but up to the time 
that I left there I had always heard that although it was being worked 
scientifically and well they never had made a profit, although they 
have worked a great deal of ore. 

The Chairman. I will ask Mr. Fink if he is informed in relation to 
this lode claim. 

Mr. Fink. Yes, sir; I was attorney for it. 

7 7 J 

The Chairman. Is it being worked ? 

Mr. Fink. No, sir. 

The Chairman. What is the matter with it ? 

Mr. Fink. The people who own it lost about $150,000 upon it 
and quit. 

Mr. Lloyd. Mr. Hoyt, do they raise any vegetables around Nome ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes; in the spring of the year they heap up some muck 
into a bed about 4 feet high, so as to get it above the plane of per¬ 
manent moisture, and they can raise a few radishes for the kitchen, 
but of course there is nothing possible in the way of the commercial 
raising of vegetables. Then we utilize up there the exhaust steam 



6 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


from the electric-light plants to grow cucumbers and lettuce in the 
sunny months of winter—that is, beginning along in March, April, and 
May. By heating the hothouse by exhaust steam from the electric- 
light works they did manage to grow a few cucumbers and some 
lettuce; and the way you would get a cucumber would be to go 
around there, take your visiting card, punch a hole through it, and 
tie it to the cucumber blossom, when the blossom indicated that it 
was going to fructify. That would be your cucumber, and that would 
be the way you would file your claim upon the cucumber. [Laughter.] 
I am saying this in the discussion of the commercial resources of the 
Seward Peninsula. 

The Chairman. And that claim was respected, was it? 

Mr. Hoyt. Entirely, and there would have been trouble if it had 
not been. 

The Chairman. Now, Mr. Hoyt, I want to call your attention to 
another part of Alaska, farther south, namely, the Tanana Valley. 
Have you had an opportunity to observe the conditions in the Tanana 
Valley ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I have not had enough opportunity to observe it so 
that my opinion would be worth very much, Mr. Chairman; but 
from all tfye information I have had from various sources I believe 
there is a great future for the Tanana Valley. It is a wide, fertile 
valley, well timbered, and while I don’t think that the agricultural 
products of that country can probably be shipped to the markets 
of the world with profit for many years, and not until other land 
becomes very much more nearly exhausted than it is now, still it 
looks like and seems to be a country capable of supporting a very 
large population, the products of the soil being consumed at home 
by the population which may gather there in the future. 

The Chairman. You do not have to ticket cucumbers in the 
Tanana Valley, I suppose? [Laughter.] 

Mr. Hoyt. No; they grow very fine vegetables up there. 

Mr. Lloyd. And all kinds of them, do they not? 

Mr. Hoyt. So I have understood. The summer I was there I ate 
the best cauliflower that I have ever seen. While I can not speak 
from actual knowledge, yet I understand that there are great varieties 
of valuable vegetables for food supplies that can be raised with entire 
success in that country. 

The Chairman. And there are fruit possibilities in the Tanana 
Valley, are there not ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Fruit trees would have to be very hardy to live there 
throughout the year, because the temperature gets down sometimes 
as low as 80° below zero. 

The Chairman. You spoke of the timber; “well timbered/’ I 
think, was the expression you used. What sort of timber is that ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I could not tell you that. It looks like the pine or the 
spruce of the forest States of the Pacific coast. The individual trees, 
however, are smaller in size, but very excellent timber and dense. 
There were hundreds of miles of it. 

The Chairman. About what is the average size of timber that 
grows there ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Well, I suppose where I went through, that the trees 
were probably a foot to 18 inches in diameter. Isn’t that so, Judge 
Wickersham ? 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


7 


Mr. Wickersham. Yes, indeed. 

Mr. Hoyt. And of good, clean lumber. 

Mr. Wickersham. Some are larger than that, 
die Chairman. Did you ever make a trip overland from Fairbanks 
to Valdez ? 

Mr. Hoyt. No. 

The Chairman. Have you been in Valdez? 

Mr. Hoyt. No. 

The Chairman. What other parts of Alaska are you acquainted 
with from personal observation ? 

Mr. Hoyt. My knowledge of Alaska is entirely confined to the 
Seward Peninsula, with a trip down the Yukon and up the Tanana to 
Fairbanks, and down the Yukon River to its mouth. 

The Chairman. Do you recollect the settlements along the Yukon, 
proceeding from the international boundary line westward ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Oh, yes; in a way. They do not amount to anything. 

The Chairman. About what is the first settlement that you can 
recall ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Eagle, I think. 

The Chairman. What was the population of Eagle when you were 
there ? 

Mr. Hoyt. There may have been 150 people. 

The Chairman. What is the next town ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Circle, I think. 

The Chairman. Do you recollect about the population of Circle ? 

Mr. Hoyt. No. I only have a recollection of occasionally seeing a 
small village, and it was the same around Rampart. Rampart, I 
think, is the next largest town in the interior to Fairbanks, as I 
recollect it. It is quite a little town, with a number of saloons and a 
string of houses along the front. 

The Chairman. What is the country along the Yukon? 

Mr. Hoyt. Well, at the Yukon flats, I think they call it, the river 
becomes very wide, and the valley is very extended, with water over 
all of it excepting an occasional sand spit. And my recollection of the 
whole Yukon country, I mean the Yukon as distinguished from the 
Tanana, is that the mountains and the hills come down quite precipi¬ 
tously to the river bed. Then I have heard that the streams which 
empty into the Yukon, if followed up, would lead you to valleys 
which in character are similar to the Tanana Valley; that is, with a 
broad plateau next to the river itself. But I don’t think there is any 
valley which compares in importance with that of the Tanana, so far 
as I have been informed. 

The Chairman. Are there vallevs running back from the Yukon 
outside of the Tanana Valley, with agricultural possibilities, that you 
know of ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Not that I know of, but I would rather think that there 
might be such valleys—and more likely to be—along the Kuskoquim 
than along the Yukon, although I have never been over in that 
country. There is a large river north of the Yukon called the Ivuyo- 
kuk, but I do not know the possibilities there in the way of agriculture, 
although we used to all believe that the Kuyokuk had a great future 
for mining. 

The Chairman. Mr. Hoyt, Judge Wickersham’s bill provides for a 
legislative assembly for Alaska, to consist of a senate and a house of 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


8 

»• 

representatives. In the course of the hearings-—and the Judge will 
correct me if I do not state accurately—my recollection is that the 
Judge said that he would not insist upon a two-house legislature; that 
we might have a one-house legislature. The administration bill, so 
called, provides for an appointive legislature. 

Now, we have arrived practically, I believe at this: That Judge 
Wickersham and the advocates of what is called the administration 
bill would agree to a one-house legislature. The difference appears 
to lie now in whether the members of this legislature shall be 
appointed or elected. I would be glad to have you discuss that 
question at this time. 

Mr. IIoyt. Well, for the present, and for, I think, quite a good 
many years to come, I would be in favor of an appointive legislature 
rather than an elective legislature in Alaska. 

The Chairman. Why do you say that ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Well, I think that the persons who would compose the 
legislature under the appointive system would be wiser and more 
unselfish people than under the elective system. I think that the 
unsettled, transient condition of things in Alaska is such that an 
elective legislature would probably not be one well calculated to pass 
wise laws for the government of the Territory. 

The Chairman. What do you mean by the “unsettled, transient 
condition in Alaska?” 

Mr. Hoyt. It is an unsettled country—that is, the population is 
very sparse and very widely separated—and there is no contact 
between different localities, no opportunity to discuss and thrash out 
differences of opinion which are local in different communities, and 
the whole population put together would only make a small village— 
the whole white population—and for the government of an enormous 
country like that, with great natural resources, I don’t think it would 
be wise to place it in the hands of a legislature that would be elected 
by people so situated and so circumstanced. 

The Chairman. Suppose this question should be considered by the 
committee, whether a part of that legislature should be appointive 
and a part elective; what would you say to that ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I would not be in favor of that. I think it ought to 
be wholly one or wholly the other. 

The Chairman. Why ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Because I don’t believe in the creation of a house 
divided against itself. 

The Chairman. In what respect would the house be divided 
against itself in that case ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Because there would be a natural jealousy between 
the people elected by the people and the people appointed bv the 
President. The people who were elected would insist upon it that 
they were the real representatives- of the country, and it would seem 
to me that it would be inviting trouble instead of avoiding trouble 
to constitute a house in that way. 

The Chairman. At the same time, the elective people would give 
the people an opportunity to express themselves locally. There 
would be that advantage, would there not ? 

Mr. Hoyt. The expression of opinion which the elective people 
would make would be very apt, it seems to me, not to be an unpreju¬ 
diced and a fair expression ol the opinion of the people whose opinion 
should be expressed. 



GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


9 


Mr. V ickersham. Do you know, Mr. Hoyt, that we have had 3 
elections of Delegates in Alaska ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I didn’t know, but I supposed so. 

Mr. Wickersham. In other words, there have been 3 Delegates 
elected. 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes; I remember when Mr. Waskey and Mr. Gale 
were elected, and I remember when you were elected. 

Mr. W ickersham. Now, Mr. Iloyt. you spoke about the people in 
Alaska not agreeing among themselves. Don’t you know, as a mat¬ 
ter of fact, that each of the three delegates carried each district in 
the territory; that there was no split in one portion of the territory 
against another? 

Mr. Hoyt. I am not surprised to hear that, but I never had suf¬ 
ficiently followed it to be so advised. 

Mr. Wickersham. At the time Mr. Waskey and Mr. Gale carried 
the southeastern portion of Alaska, the Juneau country, they also 
carried the interior, the Fairbanks country, as well as the Valdez 
country and the Nome country. Those portions are far distant from 
each other, are they not, comparatively? 

Mr. Hoyt. Y es, sir. 

Mr. Wickersham. Each of them carried each of those three judicial 
divisions of the Territory of Alaska, and they carried almost every 
precinct in the Territory, did they not ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I am not surprised to learn that the people of Alaska 
have agreed upon wliat men they want to represent them in Congress; 
I am not surprised at that. 

Mr. Lloyd. Why do you make that statement, Mr. Hoyt? 

Mr. Hoyt. Well, I mean it does not surprise me that they did 
agree. 

Mr. Lloyd. Why would it not be surprising, in the light of what 
you said previously ? 

Mr. Hoyt. What I said previously related more to localities. 

Mr. Lloyd. But you are talking about the same people. 

Mr. Hoyt. I say that it is too much to ask of the Alaska people, 
scattered as they are, to agree on all of the little things which they 
want in the way of legislation for Alaska; but I did not mean by that 
to say that the Nome district, for instance, would necessarily have 
its heart set on one man for Congress, and some other division another 
man, because certain men get to be well known throughout Alaska, 
and it is quite natural that the Alaska people should unite in regard 
to some one of them to represent them in Congress. 

Mr. Lloyd. Your argument if carried to extremes in reference to 
the mainland would be this: That the President of the United States 
could at the present time very wisely displace certain men in the 
present Congress, in both branches of it, and place in their stead men 
more in accord with the administrative sentiment, and thereby avoid 
the differences that exist in the legislative body. It would be the 
same principle exactly as you apply to Alaska, yet I suppose no man 
would be in favor of doing that? 

Mr. Hoyt. Well, some men might be. I am a man who would not 
be in favor of it. All I mean is this, that if you had a settled com- 
munity, even though it were small in proportion to.the country which 
they inhabit ; if they are there and have their oots in the ground, and 
intend to spend their lives there, I would say, give them a represent- 


10 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


ative government; let them elect their own people, if they are Amer¬ 
ican people. 

Mr. Lloyd. Isn’t this true, Mr. Hoyt, that in the Republic, viewing 
it from the standpoint of the state or national government, if the 
various members of the legislative body were appointed there would 
likely be much more harmony in the legislative body than if they 
were elected ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I think that would be true; yes. 

Mr. Lloyd. And just as much so on the mainland as it would be in 
Alaska ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes; I think that is true. 

The Chairman. If they were all appointed by one administration? 

Mr. Lloyd. Certainly. 

Mr. Wickersham. Is not this true, that telegraph lines connect all 
parts of Alaska ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Wickersham. And are there not 25 newspapers in the Terri¬ 
tory ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Wickersham. So that the people understand everything that 
transpires publicly ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Of course they all read; yes. 

Mr. Wickersham. As American citizens, they understand, I mean. 

Mr. Hoyt. Certainly; and I would like to ask you a question. Do 
you think the newspapers in Alaska are well calculated to give people 
correct information as to what is going on in Alaska ? 

Mr. Wickersham. Oh, I think they are as well calculated as news¬ 
papers anywhere else in the world are; yes. 

Mr. IIoyt. I don’t think they are, from what I have seen of them. 

Mr. Lloyd. Do they belong to an exclusive class rather than- 

Mr. Hoyt. The newspaper business in Alaska is too small a business 
for good men to be engaged in, mostly. 

Mr. Wickersham. You think they are not good men—at least not 
calculated to set a good example for the communities ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I do not want to file a wholesale condemnation against 
newspaper men in Alaska, but I have never seen any very good news¬ 
papers in Alaska. 

Mr. Wickersham. Did you ever read any of our Fairbanks papers ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes. [Laughter.] 

Mr. Wickersham. Well, in what.respect, Mr. Hoyt, don’t you think 
they are good, or in what respect do you think they are bad ? 

Mr. Hoyt. If the committee will excuse me from going further 
into that, I would prefer it. 

The Chairman. Very well. 

Mr. Wickersham. Now, Mr. Hoyt, you say that the communities 
there are new. Don’t you know that Sitka and Wrangle, and Kodiak 
and Unalaska, and a great many other places, have been settlements 
for more than forty years under American rule ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes. 

Mr. Wickersham. And that all of the larger towns are more than 
10 years old, including Nome; isn’t that true? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes. I think Fairbanks, however, is not quite 10 years 
old, though I may be mistaken about that. 

Mr. Wickersham. Fairbanks was settled in 1903, 1904, and 1905.. 

The Chairman. What started Fairbanks? 



GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


11 


Mr. Wickersham. Mines. I went to Fairbanks in 1903 the first 
time. Still, the people are living; in Alaska just as they have always 
lived there, are they not, Mr. Hoyt ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Well, the people who go to Alaska, and I mean the well- 
to-do people with money to invest, or something of that kind, so far as 
I know, do not go there with the intention of making it their perma¬ 
nent home. They do not go there for that purpose. 

Mr. M ickersham. Do you think that is true of the Seward Penin¬ 
sula ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Oh, I think that is true all over Alaska. 

* Mr. Wickersham. It is ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes. 

Mr. Wickersham. But they do remain there ? 

Mr. Hoyt. As I have talked with people in Alaska I have not seen 
anybody up there who intended to spend his life there. 

Mr. Wickersham. But they have been there all these years; they 
have their schools and churches and court-houses and their homes, 
do they not ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Some of them are going there all the time; some of 
them live there all the time. 

Mr. Lloyd. Isn’t it usually true that it is the people who live in 
the well-settled communities who go to the country that is sparsely 
settled, and that they go with the idea of staying long enough to 
make a little stake and then come back and settle in the home com¬ 
munity ? 

Mr. Hoyt. That has been true, I think, very largely in the West. 

Mr. Lloyd. I am very sure that that is true in the locality in which 
I live in Missouri. There have been hundreds and thousands of 
people from Missouri who have gone westward with the idea of mak¬ 
ing a little fortune, and then coming back home to locate at home 
and stay there the rest of their days; but of course, as they go west, 
they get interested in the West and many of them remain there. 

Mr. Hoyt. Of course that is true. 

The Chairman. Now, I suppose the real question is, What is there 
in Alaska that would attract and hold a permanent population as 
time goes on ? 

Mr. Wickersham. Do you know anything about trade in Alaska 
for the last three or four or five years, as to its increasing or decreasing ? 

Mr. Hoyt. No; I do not. 

Mr. Wickersham. You said that in 1907 you saw the beginning 
of a decrease at Nome? 

Mr. Hoyt. I am speaking about what seemed to be the consensus 
of opinion of the people who lived in Nome, to the effect that the 
population was beginning to decrease. 

Mr. Wickersham. Don’t you know that the trade of Alaska in all 
of these years has been increasing steadily from year to year \ 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes; I should anticipate it would. 

Mr. Wickersham. Last year it was more than $60,000,000. 

Mr. Hoyt. What was it about three years ago ? 

Mr. Wickersham. The imports and exports into and from Alaska 
amounted to $60,000,000 and a little more, for the year ending 
February 1. 

Mr. Hoyt. By comparison with three years ago, what would 
that be ? 


12 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


Mr. W ickersham. 1906 is the single year in which it was a little 
more than that. 

The Chairman. I would like to ask why you say that you had 
anticipated that the trade would increase ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Because I did not believe that the whole of Alaska had 
by any means reached the apex of its development, and I don’t 
think it will for a good many years. 

Mr. Wickersham. Do you think the Seward Peninsula has reached 
the apex of its development ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Oh, yes. 

Mr. Wickersham. And is decreasing ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes. 

Mr. Wickersham. Don’t you know that the Geological Survey says 
now that there is more placer gold on the Seward Peninsula than 
there is in California ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I don’t know what the Geological Survey says. 

Mr. Wickersham. But if they do say that? 

Mr. Hoyt. Then I have no doubt it is true. What I do believe is 
that the Seward Peninsula has been practically prospected by this 
time, and that the attractive and easily available placers have been 
practically discovered. 

Mr. Wickersham. Do you mean by that the hand mining? 

Mr. Hoyt. Not necessarily the hand mining, but I mean the deep 
placers, too. I think they have been practically prospected. 

Mr. Wickersham. Don’t you think they are getting into the 
dredging proposition now ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes; and the dredging proposition uses very few men, 
and uses great power. 

Mr. Wickersham. But that will depend upon the number of 
dredges, as to the population that will engage in dredging—isn’t that 
correct ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes; of course. 

Mr. Wickersham. What about the coal and tin and other resources 
of that peninsula ? 

Mr. Hoyt. The tin, so far as I know, was in a prospective stage 
as long as I was up there, with probably a good future, but not by 
any means an assured future. As to the coal, I never heard of any 
in the Seward Peninsula excepting at Candle Creek, and that was 
locally used. 

Mr. Wickersham There are immense bodies of coal above the 
Seward Peninsula, in the neighborhood of Cape Lisburne, and in that 
region, are there not ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I don’t know that. 

The Chairman. What kind of coal is that? 

Mr. Wickersham. It is a good grade of lignite coal; it is not an 
anthracite. It may be a bituminous coal, but I am not prepared to 
say about that. 

I have here, Mr. Hoyt, the report of the United States customs 
service for the year ending February 1, 1910, and in this report the 
customs department says: 

The total business for 1909, over $60,000,000, is between seven and eight million 
dollars greater than during 1907 and 1908 and is within $3,000,000 of that for 1906, 
which was the banner year in the history of the district. 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


13 

Now, with the exception of 1906, the trade of last year was larger 
than any other year in the history ol Alaska. There has been a steady 
increase in the trade ol Alaska for the last twenty years, last year 
being the largest of our trade years excepting the one of 1906. ' Do 
you know of any reason why that should be true ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes; I think that Alaska will keep right on. 

Mr. W ickersham . Increasing? 

Mr. IIoyt. Increasing, yes; for many years, and eventually support 
a very large population, something like Norway and Sweden. 

Mr. W ickersham. You have never been in the Kuskoquim Valiev? 

Mr. Hoyt. No. 

Mr. YV ickersham. YVell, I ha ve been to the head of the Kantishna 
River, which is a branch ol the Tanana River running from the south, 
and between that river and the Kuskoquim is a perfectly level coun¬ 
try, so that it is practically the Tanana Valley, as you saw it extending 
by the Kantishna River into the Kuskoquim Valley. That valley is 
probably a thousand miles in length, from the upper end of the Tanana 
through the Kantishna to the Kuskoquim. Do you know of any reason 
why those enormous valleys should not be filled with people ? 

Mr. Hoyt. No; I think they will, but as I said awhile ago, I think 
it will be a utilization of the soil as the land becomes scarce through¬ 
out the world, and the raising of crops for their own home consump¬ 
tion. That is the way I regard it. 

The Chairman. Something like the conditions in Finland ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes, sir. 

The Chairman. That is about the same latitude ? 

Mr. Hoyt. It is a cold and inhospitable country—that is, not 
attractive to the race, excepting you might say to people who come 
from a similar country, and who like those conditions 

Mr. Wickersham. You have remained all winter upon the Sew¬ 
ard Peninsula, haven’t you ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Two winters. 

Mr. Wickersham. The Seward Peninsula is almost surrounded by 
the sea, is it not ? 

Mr. Hoyt. It is, with the exception of one side; yes, sir. 

Mr. Wickersham. There is Kotzbue Sound on the north? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes; and Norton Sound on the south. 

Mr. Wickersham. So that it is almost surrounded by those big 
bodies of water, which are frozen over in the winter time, and the 
ice is washed backward and forward by the tides of the sea. The 
cold winds sweep over it—isn’t that true ? 

Mr. Hoyt. But it is not near as cold as the interior. 

Mr. Wickersham. Have you remained a winter at Fairbanks? 

Mr. Hoyt. Oh, no; but I am speaking of temperature. The winds, 
of course, are very slight in the interior of Alaska during the winter. 

Mr. Wickersham. But you spoke of a temperature a while ago of 
80° below zero. When did you know of that in the interior? 

Mr. IIoyt. Eighty-four degrees below zero is the government record 
at Dawson on the Canadian side for several consecutive years, and 
72° below zero, I think, is the average minimum at Fairbanks, and it 
gets as low as 80° below at Fairbanks. 

Mr. Wickersham. I have remained there for several years and I 
never heard of it before. 


14 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


Mr. Hoyt. Do you think you would notice any great difference 
between 50° below zero and 80° below zero ? 

Mr. Wickersham. Not very much, no; and when we have those 
extremely cold days they are only for a few days at a time, and that 
in December and January, when, as you say, a few degrees more or 
less does not make any difference. You have been there in the sum¬ 
mer time, have you not ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Wickersham. Isn’t it a delightful climate? 

Mr. IIoyt. Fine; 3 T es. 

Mr. W ickersham . Now, you say that in your judgment it would 
be better to have an appointive legislature in Alaska, to be appointed 
by the President ? 

Mr. IIoyt. To be appointed by somebody; yes. 

Mr. Wickersham. By whom should the members of the legislature 
be appointed ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I think they should be presidential appointments. 

Mr. Wickersham. I agree with you that if they should be appointed 
at all they ought to be appointed by the President. Now, you have 
been in Porto Rico for some time. In what capacity? 

Mr. Hoyt. Attornev-general of Porto Rico. 

Mr. Wickersham. Are you a member of the legislature of Porto 
Rico ? 

Mr. IIoyt. Yes. 

Mr. Wickersham. By appointment of the President? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes. 

Mr. Wickersham. Will you please explain to this committee now 
whether you have one or two houses there? 

Mr. Hoyt. We have two houses of the legislature, the lower house 
being elected by the people, containing 35 members, 7 from each of 
the five districts; and the upper house is called the executive council, 
and consists of the 6 heads of departments and 5 other native Porto 
Ricans appointed by the President. The 6 heads of the departments 
may or may not be Americans; as a matter of fact, they always have 
been Americans, but the whole council is appointed by the President. 

Mr. Wickersham. Have any of them ever been military officers? 

Mr. Hoyt. Never. 

Mr. Wickersham. There never has been a military officer appointed 
to the legislature of Porto Rico so far as you know? 

Mr. Hoyt. I know that there never has been. 

Mr. Wickersham. Well, now, you spoke of there being a disagree¬ 
ment between the two houses. 1 wish you would tell the committee 
about that. 

Mr. Hoyt. When did I speak of that? 

Mr. Wickersham. You spoke of a diasgreement between the two, 
one being appointive and one elective, because- 

The Chairman. He spoke of that in this connection, I think- 

Mr. Wickersham. He had no reference to Porto Rico. 

The Chairman. He spoke with reference to one part being appoint¬ 
ive and the other part being elective. 

Mr. Hoyt. I said, as I think you will remember, that it would con¬ 
stitute a house divided against itself, in the very nature of things. 

Mr. Wickersham. Isn’t that practically the situation that you 
are in now in Porto Rico ? 




GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


15 


Mr. Hoyt. No; I don't think so. 

Mr. Wickersham. You have a great deal of trouble between the 
appointive and the elective houses there, do you not ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I think we have the best government in Porto Rico^" 
that I have ever lived under. We have a government in which there 
is a perfect check against unwise legislation bv having one house 
constituted in one way and the other house constituted in another 
way. 

Mr. Wickersham. Isn’t that rather against the theory that you 
were, talking about a while ago, one part elective and one part ap¬ 
pointive ? 

Mr. Hoyt. No; because I don’t think we have in Porto Rico itself 
anything which is, in the nature of things, a house divided against 
itself; in other words, I think the elective body will reach its con¬ 
clusions, and propose its legislation, and I think the appointive body 
will also reach its conclusions, and propose its legislation, and that 
the result of the two forces acting together will be that no legislation 
will be accomplished excepting what is wise legislation. 

Mr. A ickersham. That is because the appointive body can put 
the veto power upon the elective body. 

Mr. Hoyt. And the elective body can likewise put a similar veto 
upon the appointive body. 

Mr. Wickersham. A bill has to pass both Houses? 

Mr. Hoyt. And to be approved by the governor. And it is subject 
to the same veto conditions that you have in the United States. 

Mr. Wickersham. Do you think that that is a very wise system ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I think it is an excellent system. 

Mr. Wickersham. There has been a great deal of trouble about it 
in Porto Rico, has there not ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I think there has been a little trouble. There was one 
serious trouble that arose from the fact that Congress, in making pro¬ 
vision for Porto Rico in the Foraker Act, had neglected to make the 
kind of provision which they did make in the case of Hawaii and the 
Philippines, that of providing against the failure to pass the legis¬ 
lative appropriation bill. That, of course, did make a bone of con¬ 
tention, and it gave the lower elective house an opportunity to say to 
the other house: “Unless you will pass the measures which we are in 
favor of, and which we call very liberal measures, we will not appro¬ 
priate; we will not pass the appropriation bills;” and it resulted 
finally in what had been foreseen for many years, a deadlock, in 
which they could not go any further. But then when Congress 
passed the Olmsted Act about a year ago—June 15, 1900, was the 
date of the Olmsted Act, I think—that in mv judgment solved the 
principal problem which there was in Porto^Rico, and the result of it 
has been that we have in Porto Rico what both the friends and the 
enemies of that form of government agree is an admirable govern¬ 
ment. 

Mr. Wickersham. Wouldn’t it be just as good a government if the 
upper house was elected ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I don’t believe it would. 

Mr. Wickersham. Why not? 

Mr. Hoyt. I don’t think so, because I don’t think that the Porto 
Rican people are nearly as well qualified to finally and conclusively 
adopt legislation as the people of Alaska. 


16 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


Mr. Wickersham. Even if the people of Alaska had an elective 
legislature there would be the governor’s veto against unwise legis¬ 
lation, would there not? 

Mr. Hoyt. But it seems to me that you have got to have a body so 
constituted that you will secure wise legislation. 

Mr. Wickersham. Don’t you think that the American citizens of 
Alaska could do that ? 

Mr. Hoyt. In the proportion in which the American citizens are in 
Alaska now, I do not much believe they would. I think the most 
serious difficulty would be—I will say a word now on behalf of the 
so-called ‘'interests”—I think the most serious difficulty would be 
that the men of substance of Alaska, I mean by that the men who 
own all kinds of property, the mines, and everything that people own 
in Alaska, would get very much the worst of it under that form of 
v / government. 

Mr. Wickersham. Why do you think they would get the worst 
of it ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Because I think that the people who would be elected 
would be naturally hostile to the men who have invested the money 
in Alaska. 

Mr. Wickersham. Don’t vou know that almost every man in 
Alaska is a mine owner ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Well, almost every man in Alaska, I imagine, has got 
some sort of a claim, but I would not say that I thought that one man 
out of twenty in Alaska is a mine owner. 

Mr. Wickersham. Do you think all the men of substance would 
get the worst of it ? 

‘ Mr. Hoyt. I do. 

Mr. Wickersham. In what way? 

Mr. Hoyt. I think the character of the legislation would be such 
that you would set back the material development of the country. 
The legislation would be a discouragement to capital. 

Mr. Wickersham. Do vou think it would be any worse than Con- 
gress is giving us, or rather not giving us ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I think it would be worse. 

Mr. Wickersham. In what respect? 

Mr. Hoyt. I suppose you mean the sins of omission as well as the 
sins of commission. 

The Chairman. The sins of omission more than the sins of com- 
* mission ? 

Mr. Lloyd. Right in that connection, Mr. Hoyt, you say that if the 
people were to elect their own legislative body the interests would get 
the worst of it ? 

. Mr. Hoyt. Well, let us not use the word ‘“ interests.” I used that 
word in a semihumorous sense. 

Mr. Lloyd. And the converse of that would be that the men of 
substance would get the best of it if there should be an appointive 
legislature ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I don’t think so. 

Mr. Lloyd. Well, why not? 

Mr. IIoyt. From my experience in Porto Rico I am led to believe 
that the people appointed by the President have shown and exercised 
a genuine patriotic desire to promote the welfare of the people at 
large in Porto Rico. 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


17 


Mr. Lloyd. Why would you say that an appointive body is any 
more patriotic than an elective body ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Because I think—I am only speaking of Alaska, if you 
will recollect. 

Mr. Lloyd. You spoke of Porto Rico, too. 

Mr. Hoyt. I don’t think that an appointive body is more patriotic 
than an elective body, but under the peculiar conditions- 

Mr. Lloyd. But you intimated that, so far as Porto Rico is 
concerned. 

Mr. Hoyt. I think it depends upon the people who do the electing. 

Mr. Lloyd. Lou don’t think a man appointed to office is any more 
patriotic than a man elected to office, do you ? 

Mr. PIoyt. Not by virtue of the fact that he is appointed, no. 

Mr. Lloyd. Isn’t it true that a man who is appointed to office be¬ 
comes subject to the appointing power, and because of that he loses 
something of his patriotism becauses he loses his individuality ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I don’t think so at all. I think that is the old 
bugaboo- 

Mr. Lloyd. Now, isn’t it true- 

Mr. Hoyt. But let me finish my answer. I think that is the old 
bugaboo of what is often called contemptuously “ carpetbag govern¬ 
ment.” I think that arises from the history of the South in the 
reconstruction days. 

Mr. Lloyd. I would not want to use it in that way. 

Mr. Hoyt. There is a prejudice against so-called carpetbag gov¬ 
ernment. In the Territories of the West there were excellent results 
flowing from appointive or semiappointive legislatures. 

Mr. WTckersham. What Territory in the West? 

Mr. IIoyt. The northwest ordinance. 

Mr. Wickersham. What Territory had an appointive legislature 
under the northwest ordinance ? 

Mr. Hoyt. The whole Northwest Territory. 

Mr. WTckersham. Did they ever pass a law ? 

Mr. IIoyt. I don’t know about that. * 

Mr. Wickersham. How do you know that it was any better than 
if it had been elected ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I don’t know that it was. 

Mr. Wickersham. Don’t you know that for more than a hundred 
years there has never been a legislature appointed in a United States 
Territory excepting in Porto Rico and in the Philippines? 

Mr. Hoyt. I think that throughout our western territory we have 
had a homogeneous, a progressive, and a liberal lot of people. 

Mr. Lloyd. And the same kind of people now live m Alaska. 

Mr. Hoyt. To a very large extent the same sort of people; but they 
have not advanced, in my opinion, to such a point of development in 
Alaska where the time is ripe to have them go to work and elect a 
legislature. 

Mr. Wickersham. I want to know why? 

The Chairman. Suppose we do this: I think I can guess what Mr. 
Hoyt has in mind. It may be that he does not want to put that in 
the record. Would you object to leaving out of the record this dis¬ 
cussion, and stating to us frankly what you think about it ? 

31531—10-2 






18 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


Mr. Hoyt. Let me sav that I haven’t anv views that the world is 
not at liberty to hear. 

Mr. Wickersham. My opinion is that he is not afraid to put it in 
the record. 

Mr. Hoyt. I suppose that what the chairman refers to is some¬ 
thing that has not been specifically discussed here, and that is the 
labor situation in Alaska, but of course I have spent my life in various 
places where there have been labor difficulties; I have lived for many 
years near the Idaho and Montana mining region, that is at Spokane, 
Wash., for sixteen years; I originally came from Pennsylvania, 
and have spent three years in Alaska. So I know something about 
labor troubles. I think that it is practically agreed that a mining 
population is, for some mysterious reason which we do not under¬ 
stand, inclined to be a turbulent population and a troublesome popu¬ 
lation. I think that that fact is pretty well shown in the history of 
Pennsylvania, Colorado, Montana, and Idaho. Now, I think that 
if you put the whole labor population in Alaska in entire charge of 
things up there, you simply will not get as good results as you would 
get if you pursued a conservative policy and chose from the Alaska 
people a lot of level-headed men who know the country, will acquaint 
themselves with conditions there, and formulate the legislation for 
that country. I think you will get better results under those con¬ 
ditions. 

Mr. Lloyd. Does Judge Wickersham belong to the labor class ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Certainly he does not belong to the labor class. 

Mr. Lloyd. Why would you infer that their elected members to 
any kind of a legislative body would belong to the labor class ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I didn’t sav that they would. I don’t believe they 
would, either. I think they would be likely to be fellows like “Big 
Steve,” in Nome, the editor of the Nome Gold Digger, and a lot of 
other irresponsible persons. 

Mr. Lloyd. Big Steve, whom you speak of, is not a miner, is he ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Not that I ever heard of. 

Mr. Lloyd. Isn’t he a Socialist ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I don’t know. 

Mr. Wickersham. No; he is a newspaper man. 

Mr. Lloyd. There are a few newspaper men who are Socialists; not 
many, but a few. 

Mr. Wickersham. Do you object to giving the people of Alaska the 
benefits of this bill, and do you object to their having an elective legis¬ 
lature merely because they are working people ? 

Mr. Hoyt No; not at all. 

Mr. Wickersham. What is your real objection? 

Mr. Hoyt. I have tried to explain pretty clearly what it is. I cer¬ 
tainly have not tried to advance any fanciful objections. 

Mr. Lloyd. Now, to get back to the merits of the proposition, what 
would you say to adopting the same sort of system that has been 
adopted in Porto Rico? Tou say that that is an ideal government 
Why not apply that to Alaska ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Well, I don’t think I said that that was an ideal govern¬ 
ment. I said that it was the best government that I had ever lived 
under. 

Mr. Lloyd. I beg pardon, I did express it in different terms from 
what you did, but then if it is the best government that you have ever 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 19 

lived under I take that to he the nearest ideal of any government 
under which you have lived. 

Mr. Hoyt. I did not say whether it was a goo 1 or a bad form of 
government, but I simply said that it was a government which had 
been attended with good results in Porto Rico. 

Mr. Lloyd, ^ ou might have stated that of the Canadian govern¬ 
ment, also. 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes; I think the Canadian government is a fine gov¬ 
ernment. 

Mr. Lloyd. But because the Canadian government is a fine govern¬ 
ment would not necessarily mean that you would want to adopt the 
Canadian svstem ? 

Mr. Hoyt. No; because, you see, if we were going to have all the 
governments which 1 think are fine governments, we would have to 
adopt too many. I think England has the best government in the 
world. 

Mr. Lloyd. Now, to get ba' k to the other proposition; you expressed 
your idea that this is the best government under which you have 
lived. Why would not that form of government apply to Alaska? 
Why would it not be a good government there as well as in Porto 
Rico ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I think it would be a good government there. 

Mr. Lloyd. With one branch appointed by the President and the 
other elected by the people ? 

Mr. Hoyt. But perhaps needlessly expensive, and perhaps also it 
might not be attended with as good results in Alaska as in Porto Rico, 
by reason of the population not being more settled and more dense. 

Mr. Lloyd. Could not the expense part of it be overcome by making 
the body a little smaller? Instead of having 35 people in the lower 
body, we might have a less number. 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes, that might be done. But I don’t really think it is 
quite fair to urge that because our American traditions and institu¬ 
tions point to a representative form of government that therefore in 
every country or dependency governed by the United States that 
would be necessarily the best form; in other words, I don’t think 
there is anything peculiarly sacred about representative government 
in Alaska. 

The Chairman. Isn’t it true that Mexico has practically the con¬ 
stitution that we have in the United States ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I rather think so. 

The Chairman. Does it not in the last analysis get back to this, 
then, that the success of a government depends largely upon the 
character of the people who make up the nation or country governed ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I think so; yes. 

Mr. Lloyd. And Mexico has not as good a government because its 
people are not as easily controlled as the Canadians, for instance, 
comparing the two. Canada has a better government simply be¬ 
cause it has a better people. I don’t mean better people so far as 
innate goodness is concerned. 

Mr. Hoyt. A more conservative, quiet, and orderly race of people— 
I think that is true. 

Mr. Lloyd. Any kind of a government would be more successful in 
Canada than in Mexico because of a different class of people. 


20 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


The Chairman. The republics of South America have not shown 
any great stability under the republican form of government. 

Mr. Hoyt. Although some of them have the finest constitutions 
that a man ever read. 

Mr. Lloyd. Now, to get back to Alaska. Alaska is composed very 
largely of people that composed the western portion of the United 
States, and you would have some of the same disturbing elements that 
are found in the western portions of the United States, as well as some 
of the best elements that compose it ? 

Mr. Hoyt. The chief objection which I have to an elective legisla¬ 
ture in Alaska is that the population is not a fixed population. Sup¬ 
pose over in the Kuskoquim country a new placer field were discovered 
of the richness of the Nome placers, why, it would depopulate Alaska. 
The whole country would go there in no time at all. 

Mr. Wickersham. Don’t you know that just that situation arose 
last year, at Iditarod ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I didn’t know; no. 

Mr. Wickersham. Now, the government finally gets back, then, to 
the character of the people who compose the government, and don't 
you think that the people of Alaska are of a good character? 

Mr. Hoyt. 1 do; of a very fine character. 

Mr. Wickersham. Then we would be liable to have a good govern¬ 
ment with that character of people ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Under proper conditions, and with a properly settled 
order of things, I think you would have a good government; and 
eventually I would be the strongest exponent of a representative gov¬ 
ernment in Alaska. 

Mr. Wickersham. Now, Alaska is a Territory, you understand. 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes; I understand. 

Mr. Wickersham. What about Porto Rico ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Porto Rico is a Territory also. 

The Chairman. You are appurtenant to and belonging to the 
United States, in the language of the Supreme Court of the United 
States. 

Mr. Hoyt. The Supreme Court has held that Porto Rico is an 
organized but not an incorporate Territory. 

Mr. Wickersham. That court has also held that Alaska is an 
organized and an incorporate Territory ? 

Mr. Hoyt. They have held that it was an incorporate Territory 
but they have never held that it was an organized Territory. 

Mr. Wickersham. If I got the decision, would you believe it ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Oh, yes. 

Mr. \\ ickersham. In the Binns case they held squarely that it was 
an organized Territory and an incorporated Territory in the Ras¬ 
mussen case. 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes. 

Mr. Wickersham. Well, that is all. 

Mr. Hoyt. May I testify a little about one or two features of this 
bill? I can be through in ten minutes, which will save my coming 
back to-morrow. 

The Chairman. Yes. 

Mr. Hoyt. I find in section 3, page 3, lines 23, 24, and 25, that 
among the duties of the Attorney-General is this: 

Consult and advise with the several distirct attorneys in matters relating to the duties 
of their office, and supervise the conduct of the same. 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


21 


^ I think you should modify that so as not to take from the Attorney- 
General of the United States the supervision of the United States 
attorneys in Alaska in matters of United States rather than Alaska 
jurisdiction. In Alaska you have the dual system, of course, the 
United States Government and the Alaskan government; you have 
United States laws and the Alaskan code, and the United States 
attorneys not only perform the duties of United States attorneys in 
the United States, but they also enforce all of the criminal statutes 
of the code of Alaska, so that they occupy a dual capacity in Alaska. 
Now, your local attorney-general it seems to me, ought not to super¬ 
vise his conduct excepting on Alaskan matters. 

The Chairman. What is the language that you refer to ? 

Mr. Hoyt. This language at the bottom of page 3 of the bill 
(H. R. 19860): “Consult and advise with the several district attor¬ 
neys in matters relating to the duties of their office, and to supervise 
the conduct of the same.” I would say “relative to Alaska matters/’ 
or “relative to the laws of Alaska.” 

The Chairman. In the revision of your remarks, will you please 
incorporate your suggestion in an amendment covering that partic¬ 
ular point ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes. 

Now, you will find by parity of reasoning that a like provision 
was made in section 8 of this reprint of Mr. Fink’s remarks, where it 
speaks of the commissioner of harbors, rivers, and light-houses, that 
in all matters relating to the duties of defense, such reports should 
be made to the Secretary of the Navy. In other words, it should be 
understood that in matters relating entirely to United States juris¬ 
diction, federal crimes, or anything of that sort, that he ought to be 
under the supervision of the Attorney-General of the United States, 
rather than the attorney-general of Alaska. 

Now, when it comes to the provision relating to franchises, which 
is section 10 of this bill, there are several matters which I want to 
suggest there which have grown out of my experience in Porto Rico. 
It seems to me that there may be occasions for the granting of fran¬ 
chises which are not franchises for public utilities; at least we have 
found it so in Porto Rico. For instance, if a man has a house and a 
factory miles apart it might be desirable to give him a right of way 
over government land for the building of a private telephone line, or 
something like that; something that would not harm the public in 
any way, but not necessarily be a public utility. So I think there 
should be some power given to the legislature of Alaska to grant 
franchises which are not necessarily of a public nature. 

Then I th nk I have noticed that you have made no provision for 
the approval of franchises by the President of the United States, nor 
by the governor in Alaska, or anybody else. And simply arguing 
from analogy in Porto Rico, 1 should think they ought to be subject 
to the approval of somebody, a court of review, in order to stop 
some unwise grant of a franchise before it gets too far. 

The Chairman. I would suggest that in the revision of your re¬ 
marks you put your suggestions in these respects into concrete form 
in the way of some suggested amendments. 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes. In the same way, I think you had better avoid 
any question about amendment, alteration, or repeal of franchises. 


22 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


The Chairman. You may take a copy of the bill and incorporate 
those features along the Lne of your representations, so that we may 
have it before us, if you desire. 

Mr. Hoyt. Very well. I think you should make a plan of amend¬ 
ment, alteration, and repeal of franchises, either when such amend¬ 
ments, alterations, and repeals have been approved by the gov¬ 
ernor, or by the President, or by both, because that is a question 
which has always been unsettled in Porto Rico, as to whether the 
council can amend a franchise and have such amendment become 
effective on their action alone and without other approval. 

The Chairman. Have you looked at the new law regarding Porto 
Rico as bearing upon these questions ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I have looked at it in every other respect, excepting as 
to the last matter that I mentioned. In section 10, near the end of 
the section, beginning at line 18, the bill reads: 

And in the case of public service corporations shall provide for the effective regula¬ 
tion of the charges thereof; 

and I would put in there “charges and conditions of service.” And 
in the same place I would provide that railroad franchises shall re¬ 
quire, subject to the order of the executive council or the legislature, 
physical connection with other railroad lines and the right on the part 
of the legislature to prescribe joint rates and conditions of service 
for the connecting lines. I think that is an important feature, because 
there have been a great many occasions in which it has been found 
impossible to exercise that sort of control unless it has been especially 
provided for in the law. 

Mr. Wickersham. Do you mean to do away with the interstate 
commerce laws and give that power to the appointive legislature in 
Alaska ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I mean that I would have every franchise require—have 
stated in the franchise itself—that it shall be subject to the require¬ 
ment that the road may be physically connected with other lines, 
and joint rates regulated by the same legislative council. 

The Chairman. Suppose it was a line running in such a way that 
it could not be connected with other lines ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I mean wherever that is the case; in other words, so 
that the railroads can not take the position that they will not handle 
one another’s traffic. 

Mr. McKinney. The purpose was, then, to leave the enforcement in 
the hands of the Interstate Commerce Commission. 

Mr. Hoyt. Not necessarily; I don’t see why. The Interstate 
Commerce Commission does not interfere in our regulations of fran¬ 
chises in Porto Rico. 

Mr. Wickersham. The interstate commerce laws do not apply to 
Porto Rico. 

Mr. Hoyt. Yes; they do. The laws of the United States are appli¬ 
cable to Porto Rico; in other words, the Interstate Commerce Com¬ 
mission could inject itself into any controversy of that kind down 
there if they chose to do so. 

Mr. Wickersham. But it never has. 

Mr. Hoyt. But it is better to leave that to the local legislature 
until occasion arises. 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


23 


The Chairman. There would be no conflict in the suggestions 
which you are now making in the way of franchises and the exercise ' 
of power by the Interstate Commerce Commission ? 

Mr. Hoyt. Not at all. 

Now, one more little thing—it may not be considered so very little, 
either—which will take but a moment. I would be opposed, in sec¬ 
tion 15, to giving to Alaska all amounts of money received from the 
sale of coal lands. 

Mr. Wickersham. Why? 

Mr. Hoyt. I know that there are persons who take the position 
that the coal lands of Alaska should not be regarded as an asset of the 
United States, but simply as a local asset, to be administered for the 
benefit of Alaska. But I don’t entertain that view about that matter. 

I strongly believe that the coal lands of Alaska are an asset of the 
United States. 

Mr. Wickersham. To be exploited, and the money to be put in 
the Treasury of the United States? Is that vour idea? 

Mr. Hoyt. I think it would be very difficult to take a step back¬ 
ward if we took this step forward that you propose here. I know 
that in the State of Pennsylvania, for instance, the original coal 
leases only paid a royalty to the owners of the land of about 10 cents 
per ton; and that gradually, as their value became more and more 
appreciated, the owners of the mines were very glad to get leases at 
35 cents a ton; and it is too big a thing to give to Alaska, without 
further consideration, it seems to me. I would be in favor in that 
section of saying that all amounts received from the sale of timber 
lands in other parts of the public domain in Alaska other than coal 
lands—I would except coal lands. 

Mr. Wickersham. Why not except copper? We have the richest 
copper mines in the world. 

Mr. Hoyt. Well, the policy of the United States Government has 
always been different in the matter of coal lands from what it has been 
in the matter of gold and copper .and other metals. 

Mr. Wickersham. Can you show any difference in principle? 

Mr. IIoyt. Yes; I can. Coal is not so difficult to discover. It is 
not the prospector who finds the coal, but it is the Government which 
finds the coal. The prospector is the one who finds the gold, silver, 
and copper mines, and I think he ought to get the reward lor his indus¬ 
try and vigilance. 

Mr. Wickersham. Isn’t it true that the prospector has followed 
the Geological Survey in so far as copper and gold is concerned in 
Alaska very largely ? 

Mr. IIoyt. I did not know that that was so, and I hardly believe 
that it is so. 

The Chairman. Are you infavor of leasing or selling outright these 
coal lands ? 

Mr. Hoyt. I feel that that is a great big subject which must be set¬ 
tled in the future with very great care in order to do all around justice 
to everybody. But, as I understand it, the coal in Alaska is going to 
be developed at a time when coal will be very immensely valuable, 
and it would seem to me like taking a very insufficiently considered 
action at this time to say in an act of Congress that the income Irom 
the coal of Alaska shall always go into the revenues of Alaska alone. 


24 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


Mr. Wickersham. That never has been done in any other Terri¬ 
tory. has it, Mr. Hoyt? 

Mr. IIoyt. No. 

Mr. Wickersham. That clause has never, so far as I know, been in 

anv other bill. 

•/ 

(Adjourned at 12 o’clock and 10 minutes p. m.) 

[H. R. 19860. Sixty-first Congress, second session.] 

A BILL To create a legislative council in the Territory of Alaska, to confer legislative powers thereon, and 

for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled, That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with 
the advise and consent of the Senate, for the period of four years, unless sooner removed 
by the President, a governor, an attorney-general, a commissioner of the interior, a 
commissioner of education and health, and a commissioner of mines, who shall reside 
in Alaska during their term of office and have the powers and duties hereinafter pro¬ 
vided for them, respectively, and who, together with four other persons, to be also 
appointed by the President for a like term of four years, by and with the advice and 
consent of the Senate, shall constitute a legislative council, at least four members 
of which shall be, when appointed, residents of the Territory of Alaska, one in 
each of the four judicial divisions into which the district is now divided, and in 
addition to the legislative duties hereinafter imposed upon them as a body shall 
exercise such powers and perform such duties as are hereinafter provided for them, 
respectively, and who shall have power to employ all necessary deputies and assistants 
for the proper discharge of their duties as such officials and as such legislative council: 
Provided, That the governor of Alaska shall be the presiding officer of the legislative 
council: And provided further, That the President may designate a member of the 
legislative council as vice-governor, and in the case of the death, removal, resignation, 
or disability of the governor, or his temporary absence from Alaska, the vice-governor 
shall exercise all the powers and perform all the duties of the governor during such 
vacancy, disability, or absence. 

Sec. 2. That the official title of the chief executive officer shall be “the governor 
of Alaska.” He shall maintain his office at the seat of government; he may grant 
pardons and reprieves and remit fines and forfeitures for offenses against the laws of 
Alaska, and also grant respites for offenses against the laws of the United States until 
the decision of the President can be ascertained; he shall commission all officers that 
he may be authorized to appoint, and may veto any legislation enacted as hereinafter 
provided; he shall be the commander in chief of the militia, and shall at all times 
faithfully execute the laws, and he shall in that behalf have all the powers of governors 
of the Territories of the United States that are not locally inapplicable; and he shall 
annually, and at such other times as he may be required, make official report of the 
transactions of the government in Alaska to such executive department of the Gov¬ 
ernment of the United States as may be designated by the President; and the Presi¬ 
dent is authorized to place all matters pertaining to the government of Alaska in the 
jurisdiction: Provided, That the President may, in his discretion, delegate and assign 
to the governor such executive duties and functions as may in pursuance of law be so 
delegated and assigned. 

Sec. 3. That the attorney-general shall, when requested by the governor or legis¬ 
lative council, give written opinions upon all legal or constitutional questions relating 
to the powers or duties of the legislative council or of any territorial official, or relating 
to territorial affairs; prepare, when requested by the governor or the legislative 
council, such bills as they may suggest for legislative consideration; prepare, when 
necessary and required, proper drafts of contracts and other writings relating to sub¬ 
jects in which the Territory is interested; consult and advise with the several dis¬ 
trict attorneys in matters relating to the duties of their office, and supervise the con¬ 
duct of the same except as to proceedings under United States statutes of general applica¬ 
tion, which latter proceedings shall continue to be under the direction of the Attorney-General 
of the United States; and, when requested by the governor, he shall attend and take 
part in the trial of any cause, civil or criminal, in which the Territory is interested, 
and shall perform such other duties as may from time to time be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 4. That the commissioner of the interior shall superintend all works of a public 
nature carried on pursuant to the authority of the legislative council or placed in his 
charge by Congress, and shall have charge of all public buildings, grounds, and lands 
assigned for the use of the government of Alaska, and shall execute such requirements 
as may be imposed by law with respect thereto, and shall perform such other duties 
as may be prescribed by law and make such reports to the governor as he may require. 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


25 


The boaid of road commissioners for Alaska, created by the Act of Congress approved 
January tv ent^ -seventh, nineteen hundred and five, shall lay before the commissioner 
of the interior, lor the approval of the legislative council, the plans and estimates for 
roads and trails which it is proposed to construct and maintain out of Alaskan revenues. 

^ ec. 5. 1 hat the commissioner of education and health shall superintend public in¬ 
struction throughout Alaska, including public schools for the education of Eskimos 
Indians. He shall have supervision of sanitary matters, and he shall perform 
such othei duties as may be prescribed by law and make such reports to the governor 
as he may require. 

Sec. 6. That the commissioner of mines shall perform such duties in connection 
v lth mines and mining as may be prescribed by law and make such reports to the 
governor as he may require. 

Sec. 7. That the other four members of the legislative council, appointed as herein¬ 
before provided, shall attend all meetings of the legislative council and participate in 
all business of every character that may be transacted by it, and each of said four mem¬ 
bers of the legislative council shall receive as compensation, to be paid out of the United 
States Treasury, twenty-five dollars per day for each day’s attendance while the legis¬ 
lative council is in session, and mileage in addition at the rate of fifteen cents a mile 
from his home to the capital and return by the nearest traveled route. 

Sec. 8. That the Constitution and, except as otherwise provided, all the laws of the 
United States enacted hereafter, including laws carrying general appropriations, 
which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within Alaska 
as elsewhere in the United States. That except as herein provided all laws now in 
force in Alaska shall continue in full force and effect until altered, amended, or re¬ 
pealed by Act of Congress or by the legislative authority herein conferred on the 
legislative council: Provided , That the authority herein granted to the legislative 
council to alter, amend, modify, and repeal laws in force in Alaska shall not extend 
to the custonis, internal-revenue, postal, or other general laws of the United States. 
And the legislative council shall pass no law depriving the judges and officers of the 
district court of Alaska of any authority or function exercised by like judges or officers 
of district courts of the United States. 

Sec. 9. That the legislative authority herein provided shall extend to all rightful 
subjects of legislation not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United 
States hereafter enacted, and the legislative council shall have the power to alter, 
amend, modify, and repeal any and all laws and ordinances of every character now in 
force in Alaska, or any town or district thereof, not inconsistent with the provisions 
hereof, i 

Sec. 10. That the legislative council may, subject to the approval of the governor 
and the President , grant franchiser, privileges, and concessions, including the authority 
to exercise the right of eminent domain in cases where such grants provide for the con¬ 
struction and opeiation of works of public utility and service, and may authorize 
said works to be constructed and maintained over, upon, and across the public prop¬ 
erty of the United States, and may adopt rules and regulations under which the 
municipal governments may grant the right to use and occupy such public property 
belonging to said municipalities: Provided , That no private property shall be taken 
for any purpose under this section without just compensation being made therefor, 
and that such authority to take and occupy land shall not authorize the taking, use, 
or occupation of any land except such as is required for the actual necessary pur¬ 
poses for which the franchise is granted, and that no franchise, privilege, or con¬ 
cession shall be granted to any corporation or person except under the conditions 
that it shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal by the Congress of the 
United States or by the legislative council with the approval of the governor , and that 
lands or rights of use and occupation of lands thus granted shall revert to the gov¬ 
ernment or the municipality by which they were respectively granted upon the 
termination of the franchises and concessions under which they were granted or 
upon their revocation or repeal: Provided further , That all franchises, privileges, or 
concessions granted shall forbid the issue of stock or bonds except in exchange for 
actual cash, or for property at a fair valuation, equal to the par value of the stock or 
bonds so issued; shall forbid the declaring of stock or bond dividends; and in the 
case of public-service corporations shall provide for the effective regulation of the 
charges and conditions of service thereof, for official inspection and regulation of the 
books and accounts of such corporations, and may provide for the payment of a rea¬ 
sonable percentage of gross earnings into the treasury of the Distiict of Alaska or 
of the municipality within which such franchises are granted and exercised, and in 
the case of railway franchises of any hind they shall provide for physical connection with 
roads intersecting or in contact and for the fixing by the legislative council of joint rates 
and conditions of joint service for roads so connected when required. 



26 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


Sec. 11. That no bill shall become a law unless it be passed by a majority vote of 
all the members ol’ the legislative council and be approved by the governor within 
ten days thereafter. If when a bill has been passed and is presented to the governor 
for signature he approves the same, he shall sign it, or if he does not approve of it he 
shall return it, with his objections, to the council, which shall enter his objections at 
large on its journal and proceed to reconsider the bill. If after such reconsideration 
two-thirds of the council shall agree to pass the bill, it shall become a law. But in 
all cases the votes of the council shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names 
of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered upon the journal. If 
any bill shall not be returned bv the governor within ten days (Sundays excepted) 
after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as 
if he had signed it unless the council by adjournment prevents its return, in which 
case it shall not be a law: Provided , however , That all laws enacted by the legislative 
council shall be reported to the Congress of the United States, which hereby reserves 
the power and authority, if deemed advisable, to annul the same: Provided further , 
That prior to the adjournment of the session of the Congress of the United States to 
which a law of the legislative council has- been reported the President may suspend 
or annul such law. 

Sec. 12. That the legislative council of Alaska shall convene annually at the capital 
of Alaska on the first Monday in October. The governor may convene said council in 
extraordinary session by a proclamation issued with the prior approval of the President 
of the United States. 

Sec. 13. That there shall be appointed by the President a secretary and treasurer 
of the Territory of Alaska, who as secretary shall be the custodian of the territorial seal 
and perform the duties required by law to be performed by the secretary of a Territory 
and such duties as may be prescribed by the legislative council. As treasurer he shall 
give bond, approved as to form by the attorney-general of Alaska, in such sum as the 
legislative council may require, not less, however, than the sum of fifty thousand dol¬ 
lars, with surety approved by the governor; and he shall collect and be the custodian 
of the public funds, and shall disburse the same, when appropriated by law, on war¬ 
rants signed by himself and countersigned by the governor, and shall keep full and 
accurate accounts showing all receipts and disbursements, and perform such other 
duties as may be prescribed by law and make to the governor such reports as he may 
require. 

Sec. 14. That there shall be appointed by the President an auditor for the Territory 
of Alaska. He shall have power and it shall be his duty to audit and control, in 
accordance with law, all public accounts pertaining to the government of Alaska: 
Provided, That wffiere an appeal is permitted by law T to the governor from the decisions 
of the auditor as to the legality of any expenditure or payment the governor’s decision 
shall be final only in such cases as his conclusion is the same as that of the auditor. 
Where a different conclusion is reached by the governor from that of the auditor, the 
matter shall be certified and submitted by the governor to the head of the executive 
department of the United States designated by the President, whose decision shall 
be final. 

Sec'. 15. That there shall be paid into the treasury of Alaska— 

The duties and taxes collected hereafter in Alaska under the customs and internal- 
revenue laws; 

All amounts received from the sale of timber, coal lands, and other parts of the pub¬ 
lic domain in Alaska; 

And all moneys derived from and collected for license outside of the incorporated 
towns in Alaska, and which are now deposited in the Treasury of the United States 
and known as the “Alaska fund,” shall, after the passage and approval of this Act, 
be paid to the treasurer of the Territory of Alaska by the Treasurer of the United States, 
and all such sums which are nov r on deposit in the Treasury of the United States shall 
be paid directly to the treasurer of the Territory of Alaska. 

And provided, That no less amount of the said revenue shall be annually appro¬ 
priated for the making and maintaining of -wagon roads, bridges, and trails in the Ter¬ 
ritory than the average of the amount derived annually from the “Alaska fund” for 
this purpose since the establishment of the board of road commissioners for Alaska. 

Sec. 16. That the salaries of all officers and all expenses of the offices of the various 
officials of Alaska appointed by the President as herein provided shall be paid out of 
the United States Treasury. 

The annual salaries so to be paid shall be as follows: 

The governor, ten thousand dollars. 

The attorney-general, seven thousand five hundred dollars. 

The commissioner of the interior, seven thousand five hundred dollars. 

The commissioner of education and health, seven thousand five hundred dollars. 


GOVERNMENT FOR ALASKA. 


27 


The commissioner of mines, seven thousand five hundred dollars. 

The secretary and treasurer, three thousand five hundred dollars. 

The auditor, three thousand five hundred dollars. 

Provided , That one or more of the offices created by this Act may be filled by officers 
of the United States Army. The official salary of any officer on the active list of the 
United States Army so serving shall be deducted from the amount of salary or com¬ 
pensation provided by this Act: Provided further , That in the event of any officer of the 
army being so appointed as commissioner of the interior he shall constitute one member 
and be chairman of the board of road commissioners. 

Sec. 17. That the governor, the attorney-general, the commissioners of the interior, 
education and health, and mines, the auditor, and the secretary and treasurer shall, in 
addition to their salaries, be paid their actual traveling and subsistence expenses 
when traveling in the discharge of their official duties. Accounts for such expenses 
shall be rendered and paid as are accounts of officers of the district court of the Territory 
of Alaska for like expenses. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


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